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``The Big Bamboo'' by Tim Dorsey; Wm. Morrow ($24.95)
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While the mystery genre has a variety of styles and voices to appeal to many readers, here's a test to tell if Tim Dorsey writes your type of novels.
-You find the Three Stooges funny.
-The silliest parts of the Pink Panther films (with Peter Sellers, of course) or Jim Carrey's movies are the most appealing.
-A well-placed banana peel or nicely aimed pie in the face make you laugh (even if you're in the closet about this).
As I've said before, the Tampa-based Dorsey's books are akin to the Three Stooges with slapstick action, over-the-top plots and an approach suffused with just plain silliness. Dorsey's novels are a bizarre history lesson on Florida, a road trip of the weird, accompanied by a serial-killer hero who targets bad behavior.
In ``The Big Bamboo,'' the unconventional hero Serge A. Storms finds plenty of jerks who warrant his wrath when he arrives in Los Angeles to take on the movie industry. Serge has one mission: to make sure that Florida is accurately portrayed in the movies. Of course, just like everyone else, he wants to write a screenplay. A running joke is that everyone Serge meets has that dreaded screenplay "in the works," tucked under a convenience store counter, in the car, under a shirt.
Serge may be ruthless and heartless in dispatching his victims, but he's naive and charming compared to the sharks he meets in Hollywood. There's the drug-addled Glick brothers who own a studio, an egotistical director whose antics cost money and lives, an unscrupulous agent and an up-and-coming actress whose love life, weight and habits are tabloid fodder.
Not only does Dorsey skewer Hollywood denizens, he also takes pot shots at gossip reporters, investors and infatuation with celebrities. ``The Big Bamboo'' is like the most ludicrous show on the E! network.
As with his other novels, Dorsey steers `The Big Bamboo'' in several unconventional directions, focusing more on humor than plot. Who couldn't appreciate a ransom note that demands "No more sports movies where during the climatic game someone connected to the team is cheering from a hospital bed ...Born to Be Wild' banned from soundtracks about ... suburbanites ... No more `Judge' shows. ...''
And with all the dreck being produced in Hollywood, is it really so far-fetched to think that movies will be based on advertisements and magazines? "A dramatic comedy" based on the South Beach Diet starring Jack Black forced to complete the diet or forfeit his estate. "A Victoria's Secret movie. A Sports Illustrated swimsuit movie. A very special Botox Christmas."
While the comedy starts strong, ``The Big Bamboo'' occasionally stumbles. Too much slapstick and too many literary pies in the face cause Dorsey to get too wrapped up in his own cleverness.
Humor in mysteries has proved to be difficult to sustain. Each author who takes this direction has carved out a special niche; even Janet Evanovich, a true master of the comedy mystery, has trouble keeping the comedy fresh.
By putting Serge in California in his eighth novel, Dorsey's energy and affection for his characters shine. Still, it would be refreshing if Dorsey could channel his great cleverness into a novel with an actual plot. Meanwhile, we'll take ``The Big Bamboo.''
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(c) 2006 South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service.
